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January - June 2017

January 10

Because staff input is necessary during the design phase of a successful facility project, Lewis Architects and Engineers took a group of teachers, administrators and office staff on a campus tour of Hallsville High School in Texas. The tour of Hallsville High School was a great experience for our staff as it allowed them to talk to teachers and students about their facilities and how certain aspects made an impact on student learning. The Hallsville High School campus is a new facility and holds a student population comparable to Sheridan High School.

February 7

The Sheridan City Council unanimously approved the request from the Sheridan School Board to permanently close sections of Vine and College streets after a public hearing held prior to the Council meeting. These street closures are essential to the high school construction project and the safety of our students at the high school campus. After construction is complete, the high school will be expanded and will cover these portions of the streets. This expansion will eliminate the need for students to walk across the street to attend classes, creating a safer learning environment. Currently, the high school campus is overcrowded and does not have enough classroom space to support its students. Several classes are located across the street at the Alternative Learning Center.

The new construction will include a gymnasium and additional classrooms for Special Education and Career/Technical courses. The new construction also will include classroom space to support the district plans to move all Freshman classes to the high school campus.

March 13

Clayton Vaden, from Lewis Architects and Engineers, shared a slide show presentation at the March School Board Meeting that includes blueprints of the projects that are projected to be completed this summer. According to the Vaden, before the next school year (weather permitting), we will make a number of improvements to SIS with the most notable being an expansion of the cafeteria and a larger P.E. room. We will add a traffic loop between SIS and SES to relieve traffic congestion during drop-off and pick-up times. We also will add adult bathroom facilities to EEE and secure entrance vestibules at SES, EEI, ALE and SIS. Click here to view the presentation.

APRIL 17

Several members of our faculty/staff spent their day off taking campus tours with our architects. At the tour, our staff had the opportunity to speak to representatives from other districts about what design aspects of their campuses have been beneficial to their school environment, as well as what they wish they would have done differently with their design. Taking the tours with the architects also provided a great way for our staff to provide the architects their input.

APRIL 19

The following editorial, written by Superintendent Jerrod Williams, was included in The Sheridan Headlight, issued April 19. The editorial provides details about the progress of our facility projects.

SSD Is Building for the Future

The Sheridan School District is starting one of the largest building projects in its history. The common question we encounter in conversations is “When will we see dirt moving?” And, our go-to answer has been “soon.”

With a project of this magnitude, a lot of behind-the-scenes planning must first take place. We want to ensure we plan wisely and do it right the first time. We are not just building for today. We are building for years to come. The past several months, we have been working closely with our architects and construction managers on the behind-the-scenes planning. Now is a perfect time to provide an update and estimated timelines, as the exciting work is soon to begin.

The district has submitted its summer plans to the Arkansas Department of Education and the State’s building officials. We anticipate hearing back in the coming weeks with an approval for summer work to begin the week after school dismisses for summer break. The summer of 2017 will bring many improvements to our seven campuses.

Sheridan Intermediate and Sheridan Elementary will receive traffic improvements to facilitate better traffic flow and alleviate congestion on city streets surrounding both campuses. Sheridan Intermediate will see many changes to the interior with new paint, floor coverings, converted space for activity classes and a new gym for physical education classes. Traffic and interior renovations are anticipated to be completed by the first day of August. The new gym should be in use by the first of October.

Sheridan School District football stadium will see new accessible seating on both sides of the stadium as well as a new ticket booth for improved access. The band also will have a covered bandstand in the northeast corner of the stadium. These improvements will add approximately 850 seats to our stadium and provide 12 wheelchair spaces for our patrons and guests. These additions will allow the athletic department to provide a safer venue, as the south end zone will be closed during events.

East End Elementary will see the addition of two adult bathrooms. The current nurse bathroom will be accessible from the hallway entrance. A bathroom will be added to the nurse station and an additional bathroom will be added to the teacher workroom.

The work at Sheridan High School will start in the fall of 2017. Teachers, staff, coaches and administrators have been taking tours at other campuses over the last two months to assist our architects with the design of the high school’s new construction. New traffic patterns, construction fencing and walkways for students will be implemented over this summer. The addition to SHS will include 9th-grade classrooms, career and technical classrooms, special education classrooms, 700+ seat cafeteria, a principal’s office and a new multi-purpose gymnasium. The anticipated completion date for these improvements is spring of 2019.

East End Middle School plans will be drawn and sent to the State during the summer of 2017. This facility will be a middle school for 6th-8th grades. It will contain academic classrooms, a media center, Physical Education space and a principal's office. Tours with staff for this facility will take place in early summer of 2017. Estimated completion date of EEMS is spring of 2019.

Sheridan Middle School will be the last project to be completed. Construction will begin in the summer of 2019 and completed in the summer of 2020.

By the end of this summer, every campus in the Sheridan School District will have a secure vestibule. This will allow the office staff to check identification of visitors before allowing them to enter the building through a set of secure doors. Sheridan Junior High and East End Elementary already have piloted these improvements, and our community appreciates the added security it provides our students and staff.

It is a VERY exciting time to be a Yellowjacket. We appreciate your support and confidence; we don’t take the trust you have in our district lightly.

MAY 24

It was an exciting day at SIS! We had a RENOVATION CELEBRATION! Construction will begin Tuesday, May 30. The following will be included in the SIS renovations: